Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill (b 1874) was a British politician. He was leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill in Worldwar World War II At the outbreak of the World War II Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty as he was in the first part of World War I, and the word went out to the Royal Navy's Home Fleet: "Winston's back!" In this job he proved to be one of the highest-profile ministers during the so-called "Phony War", when the only noticeable action was at sea. Churchill advocated the pre-emptive occupation of the neutral Norwegian iron-ore port of Narvik and the iron mines in Kiruna, Sweden, early in the War. However, Neville Chamberlain and the rest of the War Cabinet disagreed, and the operation was delayed until the German invasion of Norway, which was successful despite British efforts. In May 1940, directly upon the German invasion of France by a surprising lightning advance through the Low Countries, it became clear that the country had no confidence in Chamberlain's prosecution of the war and so Chamberlain resigned. The commonly accepted version of events states that Lord Halifax turned down the post of Prime Minister because he believed he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. Although traditionally the Prime Minister does not advise the King on the former's successor, Chamberlain wanted someone who would command the support of all three major parties in the House of Commons. A meeting with the other two party leaders led to the recommendation of Churchill, and as a constitutional monarch, George VI asked Churchill to be Prime Minister and to form an all-party government. Churchill, breaking with tradition, the former did not send Chamberlain a message expressing regret over his resignation. Churchill's greatest achievement was that he then refused to capitulate when defeat by Germany was a strong possibility and he remained a strong opponent of any negotiations with Germany. Few others in the Cabinet had this degree of resolve. By adopting this policy Churchill maintained the United Kingdom as a base from which the Allies would eventually attack Germany, thereby ensuring that the Soviet sphere of influence did not also extend over Western Europe at the end of the war. In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, Churchill created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence. He immediately put his friend and confidant, the industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production. It was Beaverbrook's astounding business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft production and engineering that eventually made the difference in the war. Churchill's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled United Kingdom. His first speech as Prime Minister was the famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech. He followed that closely with two other equally famous ones, given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the immortal line, "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." The other included the equally famous "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.' " At the height of the Battle of Britain, his bracing survey of the situation included the memorable line "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", which engendered the enduring nickname "The Few" for the Allied fighter pilots who won it. The Race Invasion Following the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet in 1942, Churchill led Britain through an uphill fight against the Race, which proved to be a much harder enemy than even the German Air Force had been. The Race was able to neutralize both of Britain's major advantages against Germany, radar and the Enigma machine. Nevertheless, Churchill held firm, hosting Big Five meetings in London with representatives of Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan. He inspired his people to hold on even after the Race invaded Britain in 1943, and authorized the use of poison gas against Lizard forces. Churchill sent Anthony Eden to Cairo when Atvar requested a meeting with representatives of the major human powers. Eden, who would eventually succeed Churchill as Prime Minister, ensured Britain's survival as an independent nation, though Churchill was forced to abandon claims to all the colonies of the British Empire except Northern Ireland. Winston Churchill in In the Presence of Mine Enemies Winston Churchill led Britain in last desperate attempt to fight off the German invasion. They failed, and Churchill was executed. In 2010, a musical about a theater owner who booked a terrible play about Churchill and Josef Stalin became a smash hit. . See: Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work.]] Winston Churchill in Southern Victory A right-wing member of Britain's Conservative Party, Winston Churchill was chosen as that party's leader to prevent Conservative voters from defecting to Oswald Mosley's Silver Shirts. Under Churchill, the Conservatives won control of the Government by entering into a coalition with the Silver Shirts. Churchill would be Prime Minister, Mosley Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mosley would exert tremendous influence of Churchill, and he became nearly indistinguishable from a Silver Shirt himself. Churchill supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. British and French forces helped the Nationalists to a surprise victory over the German-backed Monarchists. Churchill cooperated with President Jake Featherston of the Confederate States, King Charles XI of France, and Tsar Mikhail II of Russia to restore Entente nations to positions of military strength. In 1941, these rulers launched coordinated assaults on the Central Powers. Churchill would also violate the neutrality of the Netherlands, Norway, and Ireland in 1941, scaring the former country into joining the Central Powers and inspiring the latter to revolt against the British occupiers; however, two of the three invasions were successful, at least initially. (Norwegian and German forces defeated the British army in Norway.) Churchill did not trust his allies and refused to share jet technology and research on the atomic bomb with most of them. He and Featherston cooperated in a mission to take Bermuda from the United States, but Churchill made it clear to Featherston in no uncertain terms that the black residents of Bermuda were under his protection as British citizens, suggesting secret knowledge of the Black Holocaust. In 1943, Churchill took advantage of the Royal Navy's defeat of the High Seas Fleet to begin large-scale operations against the U.S. Navy in the North Atlantic. This proved unwise, as his navy was soundly defeated in the Battle of the North Atlantic and at Bermuda. The US Navy then began supporting the Irish resistance movement. British fortunes suffered elsewhere that year when they were betrayed by Japan, which occupied Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaya and invaded India; and when Central Powers forces began driving the British out of German and Dutch territory. Through all these setbacks, Churchill, who had by now become the dominant personality throughout the Entente nations of Western Europe, steadfastly refused to concede that British fortunes were suffering. Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston